Keep Me Safe From My Trouble and Pain

This one is a project of great importance, because it is not something that is just for me. We have a huge October Halloween show, and I'm making screen accurate floor show boas for the cast!

These are my preliminary drawings/notes/schematics.

All it takes is three colors of organza, some chiffon, a serger, twill tape to reinforce the seams, and tassels. I did my research over at the Anal Retentive Rocky site.

Pretty nifty, ne?

Also, all of my supplies arrived in the mail today! I ordered the fabric from OnlineFabricStore (much cheaper than Joanne's!) the the tassels from eBay vendor, sori5b7tdy.

Here is my happy serger, waiting to be unpacked and put to work. I bribed my mum with dinner to convince her to bring it to me. Urgent urgent needs. Also, a few pics of the lovely loot that is waiting to become poofy. From left to right.... All the goodies in their battered post office clothing, all the goodies piled to show that they are here, a shot to show the colors of the black chiffon and red organza, and the same for the black and gold organza. 

 And now, away I go to turn these into magical items!

If you like the looks of these (though they aren't much yet) come check us out here, to see when Doctor X's Creatures will be parading these babies around the stage! :)

Victorious, I emerge from the Great Northern Hinterland.

Happy find, happy find!

I've just gotten back from a lovely mini-vacation, the majority of which I spent visiting family in beautiful Maine. Food, sleep, board games, more food. And a craft fair!

I've been meaning to go look for some wooden pegs to add to my bathroom wall, so that I could organize my necklaces and bracelets. They've been feeling woefully confused since my earrings found redemption (see my post about fantastic earring rack! :) :) :) ).

Anyways. The plan. It was going to be wooden pegs, or a mini coat rack. And then my father and brother noticed this doozy.

Hand-cast iron made locally (to my dad) for $12. Its gorgeous, and perfect. I can hang my bracelets from the top row and necklaces from the bottom row. I will have to post a picture once it is up and loaded. :) The booth was run by a husband/wife duo. The hanger came with screws, and the couple pointed out that they had placed the mounting holes 16" apart so that it was easy to screw it into the wall studs. 

Yay, Kennedy Wrought Iron!

I also almost bought some fantastic handmade, clay buttons from another booth, but decided to hold off since I wasn't sure what exactly I would use them on. I got her etsy shop information, though! She said she doesn't have anything listed on it right now (too busy with craft fairs), but that she'll be putting some stuff up again in a couple of weeks. Mmm, buttons with winter birch trees on them. Yum. :)

Earring Rack

This one is all the fantastic boyfriend. The "r" on my keyboard is broken, so I typed that "boyfiend" the first time, but that isn't so far from the truth, either. :P

We're gonna count a stapler as a pointy object. It can do some serious damage after all. >.>

Fantastic, right? And super simple. All you need is a used picture frame, a piece of cross stitch fabric, glue, cotton batting, a stapler, and ribbon.

First, remove the glass, picture, and cardboard backing from the frame. Lightly glue two layers of the cotton batting to the cardboard backing (you no longer need the picture or the glass), cover the batting with the cross stitch fabric, and staple around the edges. Staple the ribbon around the cardboard from the back, fold over the front to hide the staples, and put the whole thing back in the frame. Secure the fasteners on the back of the frame, add your earrings, and viola! Fini! This was a super duper (inventive and cheap) surprise gift! :)

In other news, here's my loot from the past few days of costume/supply questing. Much success. :)

I see all.....

Upcoming shows are finally kicking my costume needs into full gear, even if I have been ignoring my knitting. Also, sewing uses needles, too, so it is okay for my sewing escapades to grace this blog. :)

My Magenta dress is essentially done. It's a modified Savers dress that required me to take in inches of fabric in order to make it fit right. I still need to tweak it a little bit, but the collar and cuffs came out fantastic. I'll post pics of that once I have them.

Below, however, is the apron, which I am especially proud of. It's also gracing the lovely dress form that the fantastic Kyri gave me. She is a wonderful, kind woman (whose need to clean out her basement often helps me out tremendously). :)

The reason I am so proud of it is that I was inventive and made it out of a two dollar used window curtain. I did not want to take the time to sew the annoying pleated edge (because I am lazy >.>) so I used the ruffled edge of the curtain (which, in my laziness, I attached to the body of the apron by using fabric glue). The rest of the apron follows the lovely tutorials from the blog, Columbia's Closet.

My inventiveness makes me proud. :) Though the straps did come out a little narrower than I was hoping due to the fact that I ran short on fabric.

All that is left to do is hand stitch closed the opening on the back of the strap where the apron body is attached. Woot. :)

Here's a reference photo for comparison.

I've also been trying to style a wig, but it's not going very well. I wish it would, so that I could go ahead and cut my hair, though I get the feeling that it's not going to happen. :(

Here's the pictures of the wig before i started messing with it, just because.

Oh, and because I haven't posted it before, a pic of friend Nikki wearing my Columbia shorts and bustier(the other pieces are either hers or borrowed from other mutual friends). Since then I've helped her make her own shorts, and a screen accurate corset (sequined fabric and all).  Still, these are another set of costume pieces that I am proud of, even if I've barely gotten to use them.